Pain, Love and Reflection
by freeze1
Summary: People often do stupid things when they are depressed. Ukyo is no exception, and when her sadness becomes dangerous, she desperately needs someone to save her before it is too late. [RyogaUkyo]


Untitled The darkness swept over the small city as the clock ticked on, each tick simpelizing more time had passed. And as each tick was heard, another head had lied down on it's pillow to rest. Soon practically all that could be heard was the happy squeals of dreamers, and the tossing and turning of those unfortunate ones with nightmeres. 

In a small little building a figure was still awake, sitting up on the marble white counter. Her knees were brought up to her chest, her eyes pointed towards the floor. 

All of a sudden, the lights burned out from a power out-age. It was almost as if to warn the young girl to go to sleep, but in the darkness she just dropped herself off the counter, slowly making her way over to a cabnit. 

With shaking hands she pulled out a candle and placed it and it's holder onto the nearby chair. Fiddling with her small apron pocket she pulled out a match and slowly lit the candle, blowing out the match afterwords. A small little light alluminated the room like a pastel as the girl brought the candle over to the table. 

She placed it down, sitting in a chair near it, her long brown hair enveloping her body as she leaned her head on her hands. 

She should've been asleap. She knew it. But no matter how much she tried, she couldn't manage to close her eyes into that sheer bliss. That period of 8 hours where she couldn't think. Couldn't love. Couldn't feel the pain. 

"Damn you Ranma Saotome!!!" She screamed, her cries echoing throughout the small little okonomoyaki restaurant. Ukyou Kojoni sat there, trying to keep the tears from flowing down her face. 

What had she been thinking? Love. It was something she had never known, never even thought about until she had met him. What it was about him she had no idea. But then, did you ever? Was there ever something you could pin-point about why you loved someone? If only… 

Maybe it was the way he fought. His body always anjelic, his fists charging in at an abomible speed, his legs swerving and racing like the legs of a cheetah. Yet she had met many, many martial artists… 

Perhaps the way he talked. How sometimes he could be so stupid, yet so loveable when he actually figured something out. How he had once called her his "cute fiance", and that feeling inside of her had just burst out. But… 

Maybe what she loved was about how protective he was. Whenever something was happening to her, he would scream with furry and race to the rescue, sometimes giving up his life to keep her safe. Those cries he gave when he thought she was dead, the way he fought when he was fighting for her. There was only one problem… 

The her wasn't Ukyou Kojoni. It was Akane Tendo. 

Ukyou wasn't stupid. She knew that her beloved Ranchan's heart was going out to "That Tomboy", and no matter how much he made fun of her he loved her like hell and would never let go of her. That he put up with all his other fiances because he was to shy to admit his feelings to her. . 

But every day he let Shampoo, Kodachi, even Ukyou herself think they had him only to find out they didn't…maybe he didn't realize how much it hurt them. How much it cut into them like a sword through their hearts. 

Oh Goddamn you Ranchan! Why did you have to break my heart? And then she couldn't help it, she didn't want the pain, the love, she wanted to be unfeeling. 

She was stupid. She had chased Ranma for so long only to end up with all her hopes up in smoke. All her dreams. All her life. She deserved the pain, because she was the biggest idiot there was. This was her punishment. And she deserved it. God, she deserved it. 

------ 

Red. Orange. Yellow. The colors flashed around her, dancing about the small restaurant like their lives depended on it. What they touched was there's as they danced apon the table, the cabbnit and moved onto the chairs. 

"Oh my god!" She screamed, realizing that in all her stupidity she had fallen asleap, fallen into a place where she could feel nothing. 

But she'd left the candle on. 

And soon there would be nothing left. 

"Why?" She screamed, choking on the smoke as it blew up through her nose. "Why did I have to run? Why didn't I just face the pain?" The screams echoed out through the restaurant as she stood up. 

"This is what I get!" She yelled, piercing the air with the sound. "This is what I deserve!" She didn't try to run as the smoke flew up into her eyes, tempermentally blinding her. As if to say you didn't run then, you can't run now. And she couldn't hear, couldn't see, and just scramed. 

"Damn you Saotome!" She cried, feeling the fire get closer to her. "DAMN YOU RANMA SAOTOME!!!" And as she let out her last scream she felt a large hand grab her arm. She felt herself being pulled close to someone's body, then pulled over a couple of paces. Before she knew what was happening her body was being hurled through the air. 

No fire. No heat. But pain. 

As if by magic, the smoke drifted out of her eyes and she was staring down at the mud filled ground. She could see the smoke rising out of her restaurant behind her and the fire trucks racing towards the area. 

"Oh my god, Ukyou! Are you alright?" She turned around to see her savior and came face to face with Ryoga Hibiki. He was bending down, soot dripped over his face mixing with sweat. 

"I was just walking by and I saw your place and it was burning," he wheezed out. "Ukyou, you could've been killed! Are you okay? Good god, please! Answer me!" 

"Ryoga!" And with that she felt those strong hands on her shoulders again, pulling her close to his body. Wrapping his arms around her back as he hugged her. 

"It's okay Ukyou," he whispered. "It's okay." 

And she let the tears fall. 

She felt his grip tighten on her, whispering to her over and over that everything would be fine. And the pain. But this time it was different. 

This time it would end. She had gone through what she had to go through, all was set and done. And this time she would be able to recover, this time she would survive. 

And she stood there with Ryoga, feeling the closeness of his body to hers, and couldn't help but smile through her tears. Maybe…just maybe…she could learn to love again. 

"It's okay Ukyou," he whispered again. "I'm right here. I'll be here as long as you want me to, Ukyou." She nodded, hugging him back. 

"I know," she whispered. "Thank you Ryoga. For everything." 

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